


lean on me

by pharonochs



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV, Established Relationship, Fluff and Humor, Hiking, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, M/M, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-14
Updated: 2019-12-14
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:01:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21796504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pharonochs/pseuds/pharonochs
Summary: Noctis had spent the entire week dreading it. An full day with just Gladio and exercise? No thank you.Not to say that he didn’t love Gladio or spending time with him. Gladio just got kind of obnoxious when it came to matters of working out. The sexy, muscle-bound jerk.or: Noctis' terrible horrible no good very bad hiking experience.
Relationships: Gladiolus Amicitia/Noctis Lucis Caelum
Comments: 5
Kudos: 55





	lean on me

When Gladio suggested they go hiking, Noctis couldn't say he was interested. He became even less enthused when Prompto told him that he would be working that day and couldn’t come. The final nail in his proverbial coffin was Ignis’ work being allegedly (Noct wouldn’t put it past his advisor to exaggerate his workload at least a little bit) too important to go on the trip from hell with them. He’d spent the entire week dreading it. An entire day with just Gladio and exercise? No thank you.

Not to say that he didn’t love Gladio or spending time with him. Gladio just got kind of obnoxious when it came to matters of working out. The sexy, muscle-bound jerk.

“We’re down two people!” Noctis pleaded once again. His shield didn’t even bother to respond this time, just continued walking towards the official Crownsguard car he’d rented for the weekend. “We could wait a week or two, get Prompto and Igni-” 

“Noct, you know I love you, but you also know damn well this is the only weekend either of us have off until you get out of school. Even after that, you’ve got royal training. Can you stop being a brat for a day and do this with me?” Even Gladio had his limits, it seemed. He had a point, though. Noctis was kind of being an asshole. It was just one day. He could hang out and—Noctis shuddered at just the thought of the word—exercise with his friend.

That didn’t mean he was going to completely stop being a brat, though. With a huff, he followed Gladio to their car and slid into the passenger seat. The fact that he’d helped pack all their stuff not even an hour ago had probably revealed that his words were nothing but token protests anyway.

When Gladio turned on music and Noctis started singing and dancing outrageously, complaining was all but forgotten.

They finally arrived at the trail just as the sun was just hitting its peak in the sky. Noctis squinted into the light while Gladio grabbed their bags. From what he could see the trail didn’t look too difficult, but it wasn’t like Noct had many points of reference. 

The last time he’d even left the city had been a diplomatic trip to Accordo two years ago, and that hadn’t exactly been a vacation. Neither was this—Noctis could feel his legs aching in advance. But Gladio looked so happy as he pulled a backpack full of survival equipment on that he couldn’t bring himself to voice his complaints. 

Noctis pretended he couldn’t see the plainclothes Crownsguard that had pulled in behind them and justified the coming hours by telling himself he got to spend time with Gladio. 

While the prince had been thinking (certainly not just delaying the inevitable) Gladio had apparently finished getting ready, because Noctis was handed a backpack of his own. He’d packed it himself, so it was full of more junk food than a human being could realistically eat in one day. Ignis would kill him if he was here, but Ignis wasn’t here. Though the weight of the thing made him want to start complaining all over again, he smiled at Gladio and pulled it on anyway.

The sun glared down at them as they started their trek. For the first thirty minutes, Noctis was, if not okay, at least functioning. Then he started praying for Shiva herself to kill him. His legs felt heavy and no matter how much he gasped and heaved, the air never felt like it was reaching his lungs properly. His skin burned bright red in the spots where he’d neglected to apply sunscreen. 

The worst part had to be that Gladio didn’t appear any worse off then when they’d started. Maybe he was a little sweaty, but that was it. Even looking at him filled Noctis with indignant anger. 

When Gladio yelled across the solid ten feet separating them, “Thought I trained you better than this!” it took a moment of concentration for Noct to stop himself from throwing something at Gladio. Instead he shouted back indignantly, “I was trained to fight, not for hell in trail form!” 

When Gladio finally suggested they take a quick break, Noctis nearly died on the spot. He felt pathetic, and Gladio laughing at him again really didn’t help, but he’d never been more ready to sit down then at that moment.

“We’re ten minutes off from the halfway point. Think you’ll survive, princess?” 

Noctis knew he had to look like a disaster. “Y-yeah, totally. How do you enjoy this, anyway?"

“Well… I’m not weak for one thing.”

“Hey! I got muscle."

“Uh huh."

"You just… can't see it,” Noctis finished lamely.

"You’re weak, Prince Charmless.” Gladio looked like there was something else he wanted to say, but instead he cast a glance around their rest stop. The ground wasn't level, and the area itself held nothing but a large rock that Noctis was leaning heavily on and some scraggly looking weeds, but Gladio seemed happy. There was some kind of weight about him that Noctis hadn’t been able to see until it was gone, and he looked better without it; his expression was open and content for the first time in weeks.

They (Noctis) rested for as long as they were allowed until told (Gladio). 

"It’s time to get moving again, Highness." 

Rather than reply, Noctis just groaned. His legs, especially his left, were aching fiercely. He could feel the soreness crawling up to his back, enough pain that standing seemed an impossible request. He didn’t want to disappoint Gladio though, so he braced himself and stumbled to his feet. 

The smile that he gave Noctis made it worth it.

\---

The midpoint of the trail was… underwhelming, to say the least. There was an actual wooden bench and that was about it. At least the ground was even this time, Noctis told himself as he slumped onto the seat. Gladio didn’t look at composed as when they started, but the sweat just made him even more sexy, which Noctis thought was rude. He just felt gross and tired. 

Probably trying to cheer him up, Gladio sat down next to him and clapped a hand on his shoulder. “You made it halfway! That’s better than I thought you would do with your pale royal ass.”

Noctis couldn’t even gather the energy for a sarcastic response, so he settled for half hearted glaring. He massaged his knee as best he could, trying to stop the aching from getting any worse. The trip down was going to be absolutely awful. 

Gladio noticed. He watched Noctis out of the corner of his eye while they caught their breath and prepared for the final half of their trek, but never said anything about it. He had always been cagey when it came to Noct’s old injuries. 

Noctis knew Gladio, knew that he would unquestionably carry him down the remaining trail if he had to. He was grateful for the certainty.

They loitered for about twenty minutes, Noctis exaggerating his hurt leg for pity (nevermind the fact that it really was starting to get bad) and Gladio indulging him for once. When they finally left, Noctis had eaten half the snacks in his bag while his shield looked on in muted horror.

“There’s no way you should have been able to eat three bags of chips in under five minutes,” Gladio argued. “You’re godsdamn tiny. It just shouldn’t work!”

Noctis squawked indignantly. “I am not tiny!” Five foot eight was a perfectly acceptable height and he would maintain that stance.

“Whatever you say.”

\---

The hike was going well. Gladio had finally slowed down to a humane pace for Noctis’ relatively shorter legs, though he was still a good three yards in front of his prince. It was working perfectly fine for him. 

It continued to be fine right up until Noctis slipped on a rock, twisting his knee at just the right angle to shoot fire through his bones and bring him crashing to the ground with a short cry of agony. His shoulder impacted in a way that was certainly going to bruise, and he very nearly cut himself open on a sharp rock sitting mere inches from his left eye. 

Gladio was at his side in an instant. 

“I’m fine!” is what Noctis tried to say. It instead came out as a pained whine that had Gladio wincing. 

Damn.

“Shit, Noct, do I need to call someone?” 

Noctis waved him off and braced his arms on the rough ground, lifting slowly into a sitting position. Every time his knee shifted it seemed entirely believable that he was being stabbed, based on the way it hurt. He felt like screaming, but held back. He would not ruin this day for his friend. “N-nah. Just tripped a little bit, you know how—ngh—clumsy I can be sometimes.” He stretched out his injured leg with a muffled sob that he played off as a laugh. 

“We can keep going, just give me a sec,” he promised.

Gladio looked unsure, but nodded. “If you say so.”

Noctis stumbled painfully to his feet. He was shaking like a newborn fawn and his leg felt like it would give out at any moment, but he stood, weight balanced heavily on his right leg. His shield looked appeased when he saw his charge standing, so Noctis pushed through the distant aching for his sake. Tentatively, he stepped forward. Agony shot through his knee and very nearly sent him back to the ground, but he continued walking.

It hurt.

After a few more seconds of watching him, Gladio once again pushed ahead of Noct, who had already had a slower walking speed but was now stumbling along leagues behind him. 

“Slow down!” Noct tried to call, but Gladio couldn’t even hear him. He huffed and looked around, trying to find a walking stick of some kind. He could play that off as regular chronic pain instead of the hellish throbbing burn of whatever he’d done to his knee.

An image flashed in his mind’s eye of his father, leaning heavily on a cane. No. There was no way Noctis was going to do that. 

He nearly stumbled again, white hot pain singing in his blood. Maybe he was being irrational, but he just couldn’t do it, couldn’t remind himself of his father’s pain. Noctis took a deep breath and continued walking. 

He blinked away the spots that kept appearing in his vision. The trail seemed endless and the sun beat down aggressively. Every step was a battle.

Noctis really wanted to sit down. 

When he next looked up, Gladio had stopped walking and was facing him. "You still alive back there? Seems awfully quiet without your complaining," he said, smirking. He looked good, the prince noted distantly. From what he could see through the holes in his vision anyway.

Noctis tried to apologize—he didn't want to ruin his friend's day, after all—but it just trailed off into a soundless, pained wheeze. It seemed his body had had enough as his knee finally gave out underneath him. He once again collided with the rocky ground, the impact scraping his arms. He thought he might hit his head while falling because everything seemed to be spinning, but disregarded it because he couldn’t feel any head trauma. A ringing noise filled his ears as he attempted to focus his eyes. 

“ Noc… Can yo… Fuck! Noctis?!” He could see Gladio hovering over him, nothing but a blurry outline. He sounded worried, but Noctis couldn’t figure out why. He was safe, and he was tired. Noctis groaned and tried to roll over. Everything went dark. 

\---

He was jolted awake once again by the pain in his entire body. Gladio was carrying him down the path, hands carefully bracing Noctis’ bad knee against his chest. 

“Wh…?”

Gladio huffed. “You scared the hell out of me, Noct.”

“Oh. S-sorry.”

“You better be.”

They lapsed into silence, the only sound being Gladio’s boots hitting the ground with a heavy thump. Noctis rested his head on his shield’s shoulder, letting the rhythm of their walking distract him from his own dumbassery. Gods, everything hurt.

“How much longer?” he mumbled into Gladio’s chest. 

“There’s the whiny princess I remember. We have about twenty minutes until we meet up with the Guard and can get you to a doctor.”

Noctis sighed. “If it’s gonna take that long, I can walk.” 

“No offense, but you just passed out. I don’t think so.” 

Ready to argue, Noctis turned his head towards his friend, but his mouth snapped closed when he saw the expression on his shield’s face. He looked… scared, in a way that Gladiolus Amicitia almost never was. Other emotions crossed his face—some form of guilt that made Noctis glad he could read his friend as well as he could.

“Hey… None of this is your fault,” he said. It was muffled against the soft fabric of Gladio’s workout shirt, but the message evidently got across well enough, since he snorted.

“You’re damn right it isn’t, dumbass.” 

Noctis winced. “In my defence—”

“I thought I’d finally drilled it in to your thick head that hiding injuries gets you killed, yet you still go and pull this shit. Honestly, what were you thinking? Just too proud to tell your godsdamn bodyguard you can’t walk?” 

The only sound was Gladio’s boots hitting the dirt. What was Noctis supposed to say? That he was full of stupid irrational fear? That would definitely go over well. 

“I wasn’t thinking..?”

“Clearly.”

“I… um.” Noctis started. Gladio said nothing. “I didn’t want to ruin your trip.”

“Oh, Noct.” The look on his Shield’s face twisted into something painful. Noctis looked away.

“And I’m so sorry because I fucked it up anyway. You shouldn’t have to deal with my—”

“All due respect, princess, but shut the hell up. Some stupid hike isn’t worth more than you being in pain. Gods, you’re an idiot sometimes.”

“You seemed so happy! I didn’t want t-”

Gladio cut him off once again. “I was happy because I was with you.”

Noctis was too stunned to respond. It wasn’t like he was completely blind to the fact that Gladio cared for him; he wouldn’t have invited him otherwise. But hearing it, spoken plainly like that? It made his heart jump.

He settled back into Gladio’s chest without saying anything. There was still a while before they got to the Guard, so Noctis took the opportunity to nap. As he started slipping back into unconsciousness, Noctis felt the pressure of lips on the crown of his head.

**Author's Note:**

> and then ignis, gladio, and cor had to sit noctis down and yell at him for hiding injuries for the thirtieth time. 
> 
> thanks to @corviiid on twitter and unsungillumination on ao3 for reading over this for me! please check out everything he does, she deserves it.


End file.
